Connecting the Hollyman Lineages, Part 4

 by Glenn N. Holliman

A decade or so ago, I visited Worchstershire as parish records indicated that numerous Hollyman families lived as early as the 1500s in that region of England, along the Severn River.  This trade and migration route is the longest river in the U.K., some 220 miles that flows south to Somersetshire  and Bristol where more Hollymans were located (and remain so to this day).

Note that Christopher Hollyman, 1618-1691, the ancestor of most American Hollimans (and various spellings) left Bedford (center right on the map) in 1650 for Virginia.  His immediate ancestors were from the Aylesbury and High Wycombe area of Buckinghamshire.  Worcester is just southwest of Birmingham and Bristol further south, a port city along the Severn Wash leading to the North Atlantic.  

Distant cousins such as Mike Hollyman of Australia, a contemporary of mine, have roots in both the Bristol area, London and Buckinghamshire strongly suggesting ancestral kinship ties earlier than the 1500s.  

Descendants of Christopher Hollyman in America are from the lineage of The Rt. Rev. John Holyman, born in Cuddington in 1495 near Aylesbury.  My Uncle John served as the second Roman Catholic bishop of Bristol from 1554 until his death in 1558.  Yes, his episcopate was during the reign of Mary Tudor better known as 'Bloody Mary' who encouraged the burning of Protestants at the stake. John allowed several burnings in Bristol, but felt so discomforted by the acts that he never attended these horrible executions.  In 2019 many of his descendants visited his tomb in Church Hanborough near Oxford and located his resting place in the sanctuary of the parish church where he had served during his priesthood. - GNH

In 2019, Kimberly Holliman found the resting place of her very Great Uncle John Holyman hidden in the wall or perhaps in the floor of St. Peter and St. Paul, a few miles from Woodstock.

In the following article, genealogist Anne Holmes explores the relationship between London Hollymans and Worcester Hollymans in the 1500s, furthering our knowledge of distant kinfolk. Please refer to her earlier articles for context.

Part Four by Anne Holmes

During his lifetime Richard HOLLYMAN is mentioned in the Wills of several of his PAKINGTON relatives and also in the 1563 Will of his old Master Humfrey BASKERVILLE. In this Will Humphrey BASKERVILLE also refers to Richards’ brother John HOLLYMAN. Richard HOLLYMAN was bequeathed two hundred pounds and his brother John HOLLYMAN fifty pounds. Humfrey BASKERVILLE also requested Richard HOLLYMAN had the bringing up of his daughters Anne and Martha. The sister of Humfrey BASKERVILLE, Agnes was married to a Humfrey HOLLYMAN of Blakeshall, Waverley in Worcestershire and this Humfrey is mentioned also in other contemporary BASKERVILLE and PAKINGTON Tudor Wills. 

Thus here, there is a strong suggestion here that Humfrey HOLLYMAN and brothers Richard and John HOLLYMAN were related, suggesting that Richard HOLLYMAN was probably born in Worcestershire. To try and further confirm this, I ordered several Tudor Wills from the Worcestershire Archives, namely that of Richard HOLYMAN of Stourbridge date 1541, Thomas HOLYMAN the Elder of Leigh date 1553, Elizabeth HOLYMAN of Leigh 1558 (Thomas widow) and Humfrey HOLYMAN of Blakeshall, Wolverley date 1575.

The results of these Wills were disappointing. Richard HOLYMAN who died in c1541 did not mention any children in his Will.

Above, Anne Holmes and Christopher Hollyman descendants at St. Mary's parish in Bedford, Bedfordshire in 2019, where Christopher was baptized in 1618.

Thomas and Elizabeth HOLYMAN did have a son Richard but not a son John. Richard HOLYMAN Mercer of London was known to have had a brother John in 1563 (Humfrey BASKERVILLE Will). Thomas’ son Thomas inherited his father’s lands in the Leigh, Worcestershire.

These HOLYMANS of Leigh are interesting though as the Lord of the Manor to the Leigh in 1575 was an Edmund COLLES. This was twenty years after Thomas HOLYMAN’s the elder’s death but contemporary with Thomas’ son Thomas. Edmund’s brother Michael was ‘of Bradwell in Buckinghamshire’. 

Another brother John COLLES had estates in Hatfield in Hertfordshire and a further brother William married Margaret PAKINGTON in 1564 so consequently became brother in law to Richard HOLLYMAN Mercer of London. William COLLES, like Richard was also a Merchant and he appears too in the London Port Books of 1567/8. - Anne Holmes

Next writing, Ms. Holmes provides a summary of her findings.

 

A Tale of the Hollymans, Somerset, United Kingdom, Part 1

by Glenn N. Holliman

Along the north-west Welsh coast of Great Britain lies the historic Royal Town of Caernarvon, where successive English and British monarchs have crowned each of their eldest sons 'Prince of Wales' at the impressive Norman castle since the time of King Edward I in the 13th century.

Until recently, Hollyman family researcher and writer Bob Hollyman-Mawson lived on a hillside adjacent to the ancient Roman fort of Segontium which overlooks the town. He now lives in the nearby city of Bangor, where its magnificent cathedral founded in 525 AD contains the revered remains of the Welsh King Gruffudd ap Cynan and various national princes. 

What follows is a fascinating story prepared by Bob of English criminal justice in the early 19th century.  While not directly involved in this misguided piece of jurisprudence, Hollymans lived in this area of Somerset and must have witnessed this horrific scene. 

Our author used as his sources, 'The Ken Hangings' by Derek B. Lilly (1993) from the book Clevedon Past by the Clevedon Civic Society, Somerset, England.  In addition information from Jane Lilly of Clevedon, Fred Cooper of Bristol, the Bristol Mirror and the Western Flying Post. 

For more information on this talented Hollyman genealogist and Somerset Hollymans, please refer to previous articles dated April 7 and 14, May 20, August 8 and September 10, 2012 .  I am grateful for Bob sharing this piece of history, a reminder to Americans of our English roots. - GNH

THE HANGINGS AT KEN, SOMERSET: 1830

AN ENTHRALLING TALE OF SPITE, MALICE, REVENGE AND RETRIBUTION WHICH RESULTED IN THE LAST CRIMINALS TO BE PUBLICLY HANGED IN GREAT BRITAIN AT THE SCENE OF THEIR CRIME

by Bob Hollyman-Mawson, Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales

THE HOLLYMAN CONNECTION

"John Holman/Hollyman, c1638-c1689, Yeoman of Abbots Leigh, Bourton; Flax Bourton and Clapton-in-Gordano, Somerset, was my earliest known direct Hollyman ancestor.  John was probably also called John after his father, and the different spellings of their names were dependent upon the writing abilities and dialectical interpretations of contemporary scribes.

John had issue of John Hollyman/Holyman, c1662-1727/28, Yeoman of Westbury-on-Trym and Clevedon, Somerset. John had issue of John Hollyman, 1698-1737, Assessor and Collector of Land Tax.

John had issue of John Hollyman/Hollowman of Ken,1734-1766.  John had issue of John Hollyman/Holliman, c1760-1828, farmer and butcher of Abbots Leigh.  John had issue of John Hollyman, c1786-1857, another farmer and butcher of Abbots Leigh.  

John had a sister called Hannah, 1783-?, who married Benjamin Poole, c1780-?, at Bristol in 1804.They were both farmers of Laurel Farm, Ken, otherwise called Kenn. In 1830 Hannah was about 47 and Benjamin 50.  Hannah Hollyman and I, therefore, share the same ancestry.

                     The Historical Geography

 The village of Abbots Leigh is situated some four miles from Bristol.  It was at one time a thriving seaport city from which countless ships made their way along the Severn River into the Bristol Channel and from there sailed across the seas to West Africa, the West Indies and Colonial Virginia.

 These voyages resulted in many Bristol merchants becoming extremely wealthy due to the lucarative imports of slaves, tobacco and sugar.  Amongst these enterprising entrepreneurs were the Elton Baronet Lords of the Manor of Clevedon.  It was at Clevedon Court where my Hollyman ancestors were employed as successive Stewards.

Below the home of the Eltons at Clevedon

The Elton Galley was one of their slave-ships, and it was in some of these that they exported their manufactured shackling-irons to slave-masters. As many Hollymans were seafarers during those times it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that they participated in these acts, as well as being involved in the transportation of passengers overseas. Also, it is known that a number of them were passengers themselves.  Bristol, historically within and now on the borders of Gloucestershire and the County of Somerset, was constructed from the proceeds of considerable human suffering.

Lady Abigail "Bayly" and her husband, Sir Abraham Elton, MP for Bristol, 2nd Baronet of Clevedon Court (1679-1742)

It was here in Bristol that John Holyman, a Benedictine Monk and Doctor of Divinity born at Cuddington, Buckinghamshire in 1495, served as the second and only Catholic Bishop of Bristol between 1554 and 1558. Before he died as a classified Popish Recusant, John requested in his will that he be buried in the Chancel of Long Hanborough Church, Oxfordshire.

John appears to have been a silent Judge at the trials of the “Oxford Martyrs”, for I have not located any evidence of his words; so they must have only been uttered between himself and his fellow bishops behind closed doors. Due to the importance of his position, John would have been expected to witness their martyrdom whilst they were burned at the stake for heresy, one being Henry VIII's famous Archbishop Thomas Cranmer.

The coastal town of Clevedon lies some sixteen miles to the west of Bristol, and it is here that many of my Hollyman ancestors have been baptised, married and buried for over the last three hundred and fifty years. Furthermore, there are Hollyman connections with numerous villages and hamlets within the entire region of North Somerset.

It was at Ken, about two miles from Clevedon, where some dastardly deeds took place. It resulted in rough justice at the end of a rope and transportation to the other end of the world! " - Bob Hollyman-Mawson

And in our next post, we shall explore the nefarious deeds that led to executions and exile to Australia.

                    
For information on Hollimans and allied families, please refer to the 28 March 2015 blog for an inventory of available manuscripts and data on Hollimans and allied families.

Have questions about Holliman family history? You are invited to join the Hollyman Email List at Hollyman-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com and the Hollyman Family Facebook Page located on Facebook at "Hollyman Family". Post your questions and perhaps one of the dozens Holyman cousins on the list will have an answer. For more information contact Tina Peddie at desabla1@yahoo.com, the list and Facebook manager for Hollyman (and all our various spellings!).

We are all on a journey.  Through genealogy we can discover how families better themselves generation to generation.  When we understand the past, we know ourselves more fully and are more generously equipped to travel through our own time and place in the Cosmos. - GNH

 

When We Were English, Part XVIIIL

by Glenn N. Holliman

Return to England, Part II

In the last post, I began to share the findings of my recent trip to England, and especially the research of professional genealogist Anne Holmes.  My thesis, which Ms. Holmes has endorsed, is that one John Holyman of Cuddington, Buckinghamshire, England (d 1521) was the father of John Holyman, same community (d 1533) and this Holyman was the father of Thomas Holyman, again Cuddington (d 1558).  One of Thomas's sons was Christopher Holliman (d 1588) of Sherington, Buckinghamshire.

It is my thesis that Christopher of Sherington was the father of Thomas Holyman of Bedford, Bedfordshire and the grandfather of Christopher Holyman, who died in Virginia in 1691, the founding father of almost all American Hollimans (and various spellings).  This is a long winded way of saying that John Holyman, d 1521, would be my 12th great grandfather!

We do not yet know the date of John Holyman of Cuddington's birth, but he died in 1521 leaving a will.  As a way of perspective Henry VIII, the great Tudor king, was 30 years old that year and still married to Catherine of Spain.  Henry would forsake his Roman Catholic allegiance to Rome in the 1530s, a decision that would shake the foundations of the country and the Holymans in particular. 

As Ms. Holmes observes, the Holymans were on the rise financially and socially in the 1500s.  One relation, another John Holyman, would be appointed Bishop of Bristol by Queen Mary Tudor, Henry's first daughter, in 1554.  Another ancestor, Christopher Holyman (d 1588 and 9th great grandfather of mine) would marry into the prominent Lee family of Hartwell House fame near Aylesbury.

We have the will of John Holyman (d 1521) which demonstrates the affluence of the expanding family.  We know Holymans had lived in Cuddington since at least the 1440s, and one did not leave a will unless one had wealth to pass on to descendants.

 John's will (below) is available on line at http://www.bucksvoice.net/brs/online-volumes/volumes-11-19/.  The will is found on two pages in E.M. Elvy's (pub. 1975) The Courts of the Archdeanonry of Buckinghamshire 1483-1523 in Vol. 19 of the Bucks Record Society.

What do we learn from this will? 

1. John asked to be buried in St. Nicolas parish cemetery.  It is safe to say his remains are some where in the photograph of the church yard in Cuddington, Buckinghamshire.  The memorials visible date from the late 18th and early to middle 19th Centuries and later, as few outside stones are legible before 1800. Pictured are the author, family historian Peter Smith and his wife, Maureen November 2012.

2. John left a bequest to the 'mother church' of the Diocese of Lincoln of which Cuddington belonged in the 16th Century.  Remember until the 1530s and the upheaval of Henry VIII's divorce, England was Roman Catholic.  However, a Reformation was sweeping western Europe and concerning matters of faith, much was about to change.

3. Daughter Isabell seems to be left only a pot and pan.  Household items were of great value in England at this time, and as later in the American colonies, were often included in wills.  One suspects Isabell was married and cared for by a husband.  Could that husband have been Sir Charles Ryly who was left a bushel of wheat?

4. Son William Holyman, while receiving some land, also inherited 'a grene pot'.  Anne Holmes, whom I sourcie throughout this article, suggests this may have actually been a grain vat, a large vessel or structure used in agricultural work.  Also William, evidently the second son, was left a 'messes', that is a messuage or a dwelling house with a 'yard land', a term for an area of land associated with a building, anywhere from 15 to 40 acres.

5. John Holyman, from whom American Hollimans reading this are descended, received the greater value of the farm land, being  two dwelling houses and two yard lands.

6.Wife Elyn, whose last name unfortunately is lost, received the residue of the worldly goods.

7. Note the witnesses - another Ryly, another 'sir' if you will, suggesting the deceased John enjoyed enhanced community status. Was Isabell the wife of Nicholas or Charles Ryly?  In addition to a John White, John Holyman, presumably my generation's 11th great grandfather, signed the will.   

To Ms. Holmes I owe a debt of continuing gratitude for her interpretations and explanation of the wording of the will.  More of her important insights in the next posts.

 

For a comprehensive listing of Holyman (Holliman and various spellings) ancestors in my 'branch of the tree', please click on the Family Lineage page in the upper right column of this Home page. 

 



 Next, the Will of John Holyman, 1533....